The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1887-11-09
Ex-REBELS FALSlFYING HISTORY.

Mexico, in attempting to defend lis recent
rebel speech in glorihcation OF jeff Davis
and secessionism deliberately falsifes his
tory as follows:
at has been my conviction all my life that
the model government would be reached on
this earth through local sovereignty as OPP
posed TO the Capitalization of power. 1t Is
my conviction, therefore, as il has always
been, that when the solution OF the problem
of hun IN government is found IL will be
found in a lod Sment Of local soyereignties,
in local commemorative. 1t was the tri-
umph Of this principle of which l spoke in
my address. 1t was for this principle that
MIR. DAVIS fought and against this principle
that MIR. Lincoln fought. Mr.. Davis repre-
sented State sovereignty. Mr.. Lincoln
stood for a centralized nation. When my
prediction comes true, If II should come
true, that the true principle or successful
government is local rights lodged in local
sovereignties, in that triumph Mr.. Davis
would take precedence by virtue of the tri
umph or the principle of government for
which he fought"
greater amount of falsehood than is
contained in the above could hardly be
cIammed into the same number of words.
The platform on which Lincoln ran in 1860
expressly disclaimed any intent to inter-
fere with the States, and emphatically
pledged the Republican party TO 1.-The main
tenance inviolate of the rights of the
States, and especially tie right of each
State to order and control its own domestic
institutions according to its own Judgment
exclusively" What could be moro ex-
plicit2 Accepting without reserve or quail
ification the Constitution as il then stood
the Republican party disclaimed any right
or intent to interfere with slavery in the
States, and in language which it is impos-
sible to msconstrue affirmed that the So
called State sovereignty about which jack
son pirates should remain "inviolate." On
all occasions MIR. Lincoln reiterated these
pledges, and no man was ever irmer
bound than he TO respect the rights of the
States. In claiming to the contrary Jack
son simply displays monumental ignorance
or willful attempt to falsify the plain,
indisputable facts of history.
Deploring the existence of slavery inside
the States. tho Republicans, in 1860, re-
garded the evil as one for which they were
not responsible, and which, under the
Constitution, they could not cure. Pledg-
ing themselves without reserve to maintain
the constitutional rights OF the States, they
proposed only TO resist the extension of
slavery into the Territories and over the
national domain in opposition to the will
of a majority of the people of the nation.
Assured immunity from interference inside
the States, and with slavery and State SOW
ereignty as we'll established in the South
as constitutional guarantees could make
them, the JEFF Davis secessionists proposed,
in defiance of the will of the majority, to
extend African bondage over territory be-
longing to the nation, and it was here that
the Republicans met ihem, saying thus
far, and no farther" But the Republican
party was no tirmer pledged to the doctrine
of freedom in the TER tories and the pre-
servation of the Union than it was TO "the
maintenance inviolate Of the rights of the
States, and especially the right Of each, to
order and control its own domestic iustitu-
tions according to its own Judgment ex-
clusively."
Facing threats of secession, Mr.. Lincoln
during the period between his election and
Inauguration, made the one request that nc
attempt to dismember the Union should be
made until "some act violative of the rights
of the States should be done by the incom-
| ing administration" we'll knowing that no
such act would be pc petrated. The Duff
| Green letter recently published shows how
shrewdly Mr.. Lincoln avoided the trap set
| for him by Buchanan aid Mt the same time
| how emphatically he reiterated after his
| election the Republican pledge to maintain
the rights of the States and the Republican
| denunciation of armed invasion of State.
| The Southern States had nothing to feai
| from outside interference with their do
nestle concerns, and the assertion that they
] rebeled to resist such interference and to
| protect their constitutional rights is an
| abominable falsehood. They rebelled be-
cause opposition was made to the extension
| of slavery over national domain and the
rule of the country contrary to the will oil
| the majority. What is the meaning of the
recent attempt in the South to distort the
| plainest facts Of historic record and indoc-
trinate the rising generation with monstroue
political falsehoods2 The rebellion of lSGC
was without shadow of justification and
was inaugurated withou!the semblance of a
decent pretext. Yet political liars and falsi
fers like Jackson are proclaiming that JEFF
Davis, not Lincoln, was the rightful Presi-
dent, and that the slave breeding Confed-
crate States seeded only because theil
constitutional rights were assailed by
the Republican Administration.-Chic
| Tribune.